Ten Second Film (S)

Bruce Conner’s Ten Second Film was commissioned by the 1965 New York Film Festival, and Conner intended for it to act as a television commercial and a prelude for the film programs in the theater. It is comprised of just ten film strips, each 24 frames long, of “countdown leader”—the universal cinematic signifier that announces the imminent start of a film, causing a hush to fall across the audience as it tics off the final, suspenseful seconds. With his agile re-editing, Conner manages to heighten the energy and exhilaration of this now-obsolete convention. This fervency was lost on the festival, however, which rejected the film for being “too fast.” It seems only fitting that Ten Second Film ushers in this series of Conner’s work, shown on a screen of cinematic proportions amongst the breakneck speed of Times Square. dynamic, magnificently kinetic. —Raymond Foery When Conner was commissioned to design the poster for the 1965 New York Film Festival he constructed TEN SECOND FILM, which he intended to act as its television commercial and to precede the film programs in the theater. It was a public ‘leader’ in that it was composed, like the poster, of a series of ten strips of film (each 24 frames long) of count-down leader, seen as fundamental heraldry of motion picture exhibition.